Nobel Peace Prize Statement – ICAN UK

ICAN UK represents the British-based NGOs who are partners of ICAN, a civil society network of over 450 organisations in one hundred countries, which today was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2017.

Dr Rebecca Johnson, an original co-chair of ICAN and member of the International Steering Group based in the UK, said:

“We thank the Nobel Committee for recognising and honouring ICAN and the thousands of people in our international network that have worked so hard to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons. The nuclear threats being issued by President Trump and North Korea remind us that nuclear sabre rattling can lead to nuclear war through arrogance or miscalculation. With British civil society at the forefront of nuclear disarmament efforts for so many years, this Nobel Award encourages us to redouble our efforts to persuade the British government to sign the UN Nuclear Prohibition Treaty, cancel Trident and take the lead to eliminate all of these abhorrent weapons of mass destruction.”

Professor David McCoy, physician and former director of Medact, an ICAN-UK partner, said:

“Nuclear weapons are an unacceptable threat to human health and global security – they have no place in the modern world. The UK government should be leading international efforts to get rid of nuclear weapons instead of boycotting them. Health professionals are calling on Government to scrap Trident and spend the money on the NHS.

“The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize highlights the importance of this new treaty at a time when the threat of nuclear weapons is more pressing than ever in recent decades. ICAN focused attention on the humanitarian impact that the use of these weapons would cause – with just a single weapon threatening to kill and injure hundreds of thousands of people and to poison their environment for the future. Despite the politics of these weapons, the scale of humanitarian suffering that they can cause means they cannot be considered acceptable, and that is why ICAN here in the UK and internationally has worked for them to be banned.”

Kate Hudson of ICAN partner CND said “This Nobel Peace Prize commits all of us to bring the UK on board the historic UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and take the lead by scrapping Trident.”

@ICAN_UK You did it!! Yay!! Congratulations! We heard you were about to! Celebrate!

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Supporters

“If Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr were alive today, they would be part of ICAN.”

Martin Sheen
Actor and activist

“I salute ICAN for working with such commitment and creativity.”

Ban Ki-moon
UN chief

“We can do it together. With your help, our voice will be made still stronger. Imagine peace.”

Yoko Ono
Artist

“Governments say a nuclear weapons ban is unlikely. Don’t believe it. They said the same about a mine ban treaty.”

Jody Williams
Nobel laureate

“With your support, we can take ICAN its full distance – all the way to zero nuclear weapons.”

Desmond Tutu
Nobel laureate

“Because I cannot tolerate these appalling weapons, I whole-heartedly support ICAN.”

Herbie Hancock
Jazz musician

“I am proud to support the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.”

Hans Blix
Weapons inspector

“I can imagine a world without nuclear weapons, and I support ICAN.”

Dalai Lama
Nobel laureate

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a global campaign coalition working to mobilize people in all countries to inspire, persuade and pressure their governments to initiate negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons.
Contact ICAN UK